I found inspiration from the song "Kenji" by Fort minor for this song. The reason I chose this as my base is because is because it communicates very well the struggle of one Japanese family who were interned in an internment camp during WWII. I'm not saying my experience in this hospital was anything close to that bad, but it was an atrocity in the minds of me, my family, and a few friends so this song was written by me and 2 close friends from work to get our feelings out. Thanks to Krystal Meyers (a.k.a. "siri") for believing in me and James for helping me write it up.

Note that this song does feature some violent themes and depicts things that no one should have to go through, EVER, regardless of disability; so please be forewarned.

Narration 1: My best friend has been nonverbal since birth, in 1992, she was 16 when she finally got a voice. She worked until she was able to build respect and prove everyone else wrong.

Main Rap Verse 1:

Let me tell you the story in the form of a dream, I don’t know why I have to tell it, but I know what it means. Close your eyes, just picture the scene as I paint it for you, It was 20 14 when this girl named Lindsay woke up. Lindsay was not like others, she was just a girl with a history of abuse and pain from all sides. That day, she crawled out of bed like she always did; hands and hugs with staff and fans, she lived on the second floor of a little apartment home; she moved to up here from downtown. They called her “handicapped”; with her device she’d say she was called “equal” that meant “just as able to communicate as those who were verbal” when everybody was afraid of the hardware, afraid of the apps, but most of all, afraid of what they don’t understand. That morning, when Lindsay went out to the hospital, her world went black. Because, right there, front page news; three weeks before 10/01/2014 “nonverbal girl’s here and the apps are talking” pictures of people screaming and running. Lindsay knew what it would lead to, just like she guessed, the hospital said “the evil nonverbals in our hospital will be restrained and drugged.” They gave Lindsay a couple of tries to get her whole life conformed to their mold, just their mold; couldn’t even tell them “no”. some folks didn’t even have a backup to communicate anything with, so two chances is all they gave them, and when the kids asked Morgan “Where are we going?” nobody even knew what to say to them, Lindsay didn’t want to lie, she said the hospital is looking to hurt and so we have to live in a place called “doctors” now where a lot of nonverbal people are. Stop it! Don’t communicate with your iPad, you don’t want to get these “people” wondering if you’re going to communicate or not, cause if you do then you might get a shot. Other than that try not to think about it, try not to worry about it being so crowded, because some day we’ll get out, some day… some day.

Narrative 2 (Krystal using her iPad): when she first got there, the rent-a-cops came and they just came up to her and “you have to stop. All the communication devices have to go.” They took away her iPad. The people couldn’t understand why they had to take that. That was her only way to communicate.

Main rap verso 2: so now they’re in this place with these “people” surrounding them. Every day, every night, talk down at them. From watch towers in the center of it all, Lindsay couldn’t understand them at all. They were just doing their job, and she wasn’t going to make any problems. She had a little notebook with thoughts and requests that she gave to the staff on a form that her wife made, but in the back of her mind she just wanted her peoples’ lives saved. Victims of discrimination in a stinking hospital, what for? Time passed on the prison block; she wondered if she’d live it down if and when they were free. The only way out was conforming to their mold, and supposedly some folks gave up their voices and signed on, and ended up walking out of their, with no voice. That sudden silence of thoughts put an end to the hate pretty fast. Most people were scarred for life, the end to the hate came quick. Lindsay got out, big hopes of a normal life with her friends and her wife. When they got back to their home and what they saw made them feel so alone; these “people” had trashed every room, smashed in the windows and bashed in the doors, written on the walls and the floors “nonverbal people not welcomed anymore.” Lindsay dropped both of her bags at her sides and just stood outside. She looked at Morgan without words to say. She looked back at Lindsay, wiped the tears away said “some day we’ll be OK, some day.” Now the names have been changed but the story’s true, my family was locked up back in 2014. my family was there where it was dark and damp, and they called that an internment camp.

Narration 1: when we first got back from that, uh… it was pretty… pretty bad.

Narration 2 (Krystal using her iPad): I… I remember. My girlfriend said “are we going to stay til last?” then my girlfriend died before anything was ever done.

Last edited by cfleischmann on Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:14 pm; edited 1 time in total

Wow. That was very deep. I feel her pain. The ending was a big twist. I am sorry for her and her friends/family that had to see this happen to her.No one should ever have to go through this.Love the lyrics! You did good once again. You are inspiring me to write and create my own songs. If I had instruments and knew how to play them, I would make the music but I got nothing XD.

That song was actually written about my experience in a place called "doctors hospital" and I still have pain in my left arm from that. They beat me up, they threw me to the ground, they restrained and drugged me, and they violated my human rights in other ways. In the internal music video, I played the title character "Lindsay" for a re-enactment of how it all went down. As the song says "now the names have been changed but the story's true..."

Awwwe. That is so depressing. I am sorry you had to go through all that. I hope things get better for you. What you ought to do is stand up for yourself and speak up. Say "I have just as much right as everyone else. Just because I am hurt/disabled, does not mean you can take my freedom from me!"..That sounds like they are abusing you and they can't do that. You need to do something before it gets worse. Tell your parents or guardian or speak up for yourself.

I'm out of there now and you had better believe I stood up for myself that happened when I was 23 years old and yes both my parents were quite pantry with the situation. No lawyer would take the case as "no one died and no bones were broken". Further that was a temporary stay in that hospital but you'd better believe I'm never going back there if I have a choice.

That is great then! But some bones might get broken if the situation continues to follow. Just saying. It could happen. Not saying I want it to happen though.I am glad that you are okay and that you, hopefully, don't have to deal with that situation again.